trades union

trades´ un`ion

1.

An organized combination among workmen for the purpose of maintaining their rights, privileges, and interests with respect to wages, hours of labor, customs, etc.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

trades union - an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer; "you have to join the union in order to get a job" labor union, trade union, union, brotherhood organization, organisation - a group of people who work together industrial union, vertical union - a labor union that admits all workers in a given industry irrespective of their craft craft union - a labor union whose membership is restricted to workers in a particular craft company union - a union of workers for a single company; a union not affiliated with a larger union labor movement, trade union movement, labor - an organized attempt by workers to improve their status by united action (particularly via labor unions) or the leaders of this movement I.W.W., Industrial Workers of the World, IWW - a former international labor union and radical labor movement in the United States; founded in Chicago in 1905 and dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism; its membership declined after World War I